“Study: Medicare reduces older adults’ risk for catastrophic health expenses,” by Brian P. Dunleavy, UPI     Quote: “Older adults’ out-of-pocket healthcare expenses drop by 27% once they enroll in Medicare, improving their protection from financial risk, a study published Friday by JAMA Health Forum found. … And although nearly 9% of adults age 64 experienced ‘catastrophic’ health expenses — or costs exceeding 40% of annual income minus spending on food and housing — enrolling in Medicare, usually at age 65, reduced their risk for these financial problems by 35%, the researchers said.”     LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center
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“UK lawmakers back tax hike to pay for health, long-term care,” CNYHomePage.com     Quote: “British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won Parliament’s support on Wednesday for a big tax hike to pay for short-term health requirements arising from the coronavirus pandemic, as well as for long-term care needed by Britain’s growing older population. Lawmakers voted by 319 to 248 in favor of the 1.25 percentage point increase in national insurance payments made by working-age people.”     LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Hmmm. The older population, frequent voters, are the beneficiaries of this tax
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“Workers at home health agencies receiving Medicare, Medicaid must get vaccinated: CMS,” by Diane Eastabrook, McKnight’s Senior Living      Quote: “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday emergency regulations requiring vaccinations for workers at nursing homes would be expanded to include hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, home health facilities and a number of other healthcare providers as the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus spreads across the U.S.”     LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform: Then today the Wall Street Journal reported “All employers with 100 or more employees would have to
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BREAKING: 16,000 COVID deaths missed in nursing homes, by Danielle Brown, McKnight’s LTC News     Quote: “More than 16,000 COVID-19 deaths and 68,000 cases among nursing home residents nationwide were omitted from federal data after officials made it optional for providers to submit some information during the first months of the pandemic, Harvard researchers have found. … The missed data represented 11.6% of total COVID-19 cases and 14% of total deaths among nursing home residents in 2020. … Grabowski added that by including the unreported cases and deaths to the 2020 totals, investigators now estimate the national 2020 total of
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